Doctrines of salvation and damnation of the major world religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam - provide different incentives for performing economic activities and charitable deeds. A comparative analysis of the four religions shows that each promotes accumulation of wealth and hard work, while discouraging idleness, debt, and poverty. The primary difference across the religions is with respect to charity. Religions that allow believers to contribute to their own salvation tend to emphasize varieties of selective charity. Religions that hold salvation is only possible through divine selection stress universal charity.
